Death Skateboards have released a one-off guest board this week for skate legend Ben Schroeder. Ben was involved in a head on collision with a car back in August 2011. He was hillbombing at 40mph and a car hit him at mach 10 and then ran over him. The car stopped with the tyre on top of his left leg resulting in his shin bone (tibia) being broken in two.

Speaking to Nick Zorlac last night he said: “I thought it would be a good time to do a Ben Schroeder guest board on Death. One because he one of skateboarding’s all time greats, and two because he needs some help right now. These decks just landed, are a limited edition and have turned out great. Graphic by Jason Davey.”

The weather reports in the lead up to this 10 Year celebration went from a possible fat dump of snow, to freezing frog, but the end result was perfect blues on the day. We were so lucky, because it was freezing from Monday to Wednesday but the weather went from 2′ to 10′ in two days.

Those thinking this is great news may not know that after a big freeze like that, the motorway over-hanging BaySixty6 skate park suddenly starts to sweat, meaning condensation fills the walls when a sudden change in the weather happens. The day before the jam, the park was soaked, so we all lucked out big time.

Before the event kicked off, I had the pleasure of dressing the park with banners and stickers as usual, and was stoked to have two kids ask if they could help. It was more of a surprise though when none other than Paul Weller asked if he could hang Ricta banners around the bowl. Crossfire would never have started if I had not have heard ‘Setting Sons’ by The Jam back in the early 80’s. This album has some seriously powerful lyrics. This happening was personally a lovely 10th Anniversary gift, so big ups to Mr Weller for making my day.

The un-sponsored jams commenced on the Grizzly Grip Tape ledges. Everything landed in this rapid fire 15 minute session came courtesy from our guest ams and pro’s warming up and so many tricks that were never actually made, so the vouchers were taken over to the small stair set.

Like lemmings, people dropped all sorts of goodness on us. This included Tomas Monkevičius‘ kickflip fs board slide on the rail that took Stand Up‘s dough. Nai Sukanant’s switch hardflip on the small stair set was a banger, Craig Loveless pulled out a nollie hardflip, but it was Gytis Bluivas‘ switch bigspin heelflip that rocked the joint. He was so close to taking a fs smith flip out on the ledge before this too, like, really close, but this was just the beginning for Gytis as you will find out further down this page. Alex Tibble closed the un-sponsored procedures with a quick-as-you like, straight-out-of-the box switch fs flip over the small gap. If you blinked, you would have missed it.

The park was a mess by 2pm. Boards were being sprayed everywhere. There’s so much more room in the new Bay park, but during an open jam style event, it’s quite hard to find that space needed when it’s busy. People tend to sit on obstacles and get in the way, making it difficult for people to land tricks. That aside, we had no major collisions other than two blokes locking horns in the bowl, and the usual scrap in the product toss, so considering the chaos, nobody was seen limping into an ambulance.

Six people skating the bowl at once = carnage. Ph: Richard West

Gytis Bluivas takes the DGK jam with style. Ph: Tom Halliday

The DGK Hubba Jam was instantly set upon by Thomas Harrison whose tail slides didn’t connect for him, but out of nowhere came Aaron Neville‘s impossible 5-0 before Alex DeCuhna laid down a stealth fs smith and kick-flipped out. Dan Wileman pushed a fs blunt, Sox ollied onto it and pushed a nose manual down it, Shaun Currie took a sweet noseslide 270-out before that Lithuanian ripper Gytis Bluivas returned with a crook only to nollie flipped out. He took the honours, and the dough. We hear that on this display, Gytis may end up with a sponsor. Let’s hope so, he fully deserves it.

Alex DeCunha delivers a mansize FS smith flip out. Ph: Tom Halliday

Sox had manny mania. Ph: Tom Halliday

It was Tom Steel who came up with the idea of wrapping board boxes for the HUFhigh ollie jam. The choice of Xmas wrapping paper and overall job would have received thumbs up from Blue Peter I reckon.

Mark Radden killed it all day for Death. Ph: Tom Halliday

With the driveway prepped, and the boxes continuously stacked, it came down to three potential candidates for the win. Chris Oliver sneaked one over the top ninja style and rode out on two wheels. Mark Radden pushed the boundaries and popped what we thought would be the winner until Thomas Harrison took out six boxes and closed the account. Absolutely epic stuff.

Thomas Harrison ollies The National Skateboard Co into their first win. Ph: Tom Halliday.

Balls of steel. Joe Habgood back-D’s the wall hole. Ph: Tom Halliday

If the wall jam at this year’s Halloween Massacre was anything to go by, we were about to see even more NBD’s destroy its steep transitions. This wall is no joke and way steeper than the previous build. It didn’t bother Joe Habgood though, whose first trick was to fakie rock the high section. I can confirm that he is the first to lay that down for sure. His backside disaster in the wall hole and fs nosepick raised beers across the park too. The unicorn juice was certainly flowing today.

Jed Cullen takes a pivot fakie. Ph: Tom Halliday

Ryan Price threw another fs nosepick into the mix, Sox pulled in off the coping to fakie and also left a one foot rock fakie behind. Again, another NBD went down. Jed Cullen took the honours though with a blunt fakie on the coping, and then on the high wall like Joe (just to rub it in!) and also took a pivot fakie home too. What a session.

The big rail sesh and stair set was quite a spectacle too. The rail was kept warm by John Howlett who made sure he feebled it and also left a backside smith for us to ponder on. Jess Young took a sick tailslide revert, Daryl Dominguez also saw his tail do the work right in front of Brum’s Luke Kindon, whose crook backside lipslide was deemed the winner.

John Howlett back smith’s the rail. Ph: Richard West

The stairs got a serious workout. Oldham’s LLoyd Mcleggon was catching his board with steez as he kickflipped and hardflipped the 5. Bloke went down though and was helped out at the final whistle with a tweaked knee and a groin whack. This year’s I.D star Awahd Mohammed looked like he was walking away with the pounds with a sick bs 360 ollie, but in the very last second Liverpool’s Charlie Birch laid down a fs bigspin that had everyone on their feet. The place erupted and he took the lot. Ridiculousness.

A Third Foot’s Dave Pegg ripped all day long with hardlflips and more. Ph: Tom Halliday

Lloyd McLeggon recovered from this with a groin strain. Ph: Rich West

Ledge fiends then filled the quad with tailslides, nosegrinds and more on the Grizzly Grip ledge sesh. So many people skated, yet so little was taken away clean. Honorary mentions include Alex DeCunha‘s front smith kick flip out (that we didn’t manage to get on film or tape), Caradog Emmanuel‘s fs tail slide flip out and Thomas Harrison’s second winning trick on the day for the National Skateboard Co, a tailslide 270 out which again, didn’t make it to film due to people being in the way. This was a frustrating session for coverage but what went down in the chaos was ace.

Daryl Dominguez takes a fs kickflip over his local hole. Ph: Tom Halliday

Double D then pushes the boat out with a fs heelflip. Job done. Ph: Richard West

Big tings were going down in the warm up for the Superdead Gap Jam. Clean ollies were beong thrown down as set ups for various other tricks, but with this gap being fucking huge, it eventually came down to three contenders. Vans rider Daryl Dominguez opened the proceedings with a kickflip which spurned on Lovenskate’s Ewen Bower to float an ollie over the beast and revert it right at the last millisecond. Whilst people were picking their jaws up from the floor from that, Death’s Mikey Patrick (who has returned from an injury) launched a few attempts to bs ollie fakie the channel, until he hit the sweet spot. A total meltdown was in place but this was just the beginning. Daryl then threw another kickflip across the beast and then started some heelflip assaults. Ewen upped the ante with a stalefish revert (yes, wtf!) and took the piss with a fully-cocked-leg benihana. Shut down. Every skater in that park went nuts and then started to chant Daryl’s name. You know he was going to have it, and then there it was. Bang! Electric session!

Benihana’s suck, but not when Ewen Bower floats them this high. Ph: Tom Halliday

Ewen’s stalefish revert over the beast gap was pure class. Ph: Richard West

How do you follow that mentalness? Only one way, and that’s to get stuck into a bowl sesh fueled by Ricta. It was a mess in there! 6 people at a time, full throttle. Sox had a bunch of tricks up his sleeve, Habgood was roaring through the place catching diving board gashes in his shins from the weak. He took a sick nosepick out of the bowl, so did Jed. Sick tricks. The hip jam was won by Greg Nowik, whose selection of fine xmas pickings warmed the cockles enough to hand him the dough. It was his fs shuv that really got tails tapping though. Carl Wilson’s hip work was sterling as ever, Ryan Price was bang up for it, Ewen Bower dropped some bangers. Too much, too many, too much again.

Jed Cullen takes his Blakey moustache to new levels in the bowl jam. Ph: Richard West

‘Chav’ Dan Hill was the only person able to actually grind more than 10 feet. He managed only two thirds of the double pocket he laid down at the Halloween Massacre to win the longest grind comp. The carnage was so rife in that bowl that tricks were hard to come by, knowing that someone is about to smash you in the back of the head as you land a trick.

Max Roton needs no colour for his fs boneless steez. Ph: Richard west

Chroliver‘s head high kickflips would have been trick of the day if he had landed one, instead, he got his arse out for the transfer jam and mooned the platform like a slut. I’m amazed that nobody’s head got stuck up his harris from the amount of people flying over the barrier. Witchcraft’s New Zealand bomber Morph was in every run laying it down in camouflage attire. He was also busting out 360’s out of there, until he took the tail of his 8.5 on landing. Terrorist moves. Charlie Birch then drew blood from his head in the melee. There was also a serious head clash in the bowl before Habgood rolled out of there with some moolah for his nosepick and transfer prowess. The bear’s insides maybe fucked, but he’s tough on the outside and will battle anyone.

Jono Coote slams down a handplant. Ph: Richard West

If you were not there on the platform to witness this and sat at home awaiting footage like a mong, then you will never understand what this frenzied session was like, ever. Thanks Ricta, you fucking rule. The skateboarding certainly didn’t let us down.

The after party saw Chroliver taking over the decks and a full house filled the Portobello Pop Up Cinema for the UK premiere screening of the banging new DGK video ‘Parental Advisory‘. A huge amount of work has been put into this production, the skating is ridiculous. Pure tech dream stuff. Go grab a copy of it this Xmas.

Huge thanks to Paul McDermott and everyone at BaySixty6 skate park, Ian Deacon at Ricta, Vicki and Alan at Shiner, Wes at Rocksolid, Maf and Ross at Out of Step, Tez and Harry at Superdead, Jane and Adam at I-Five, all at Slam City and at Stand Up Skate Shop.

We are proud to announce a jam celebrating a decade of Crossfire Xmas Jam events. This milestone will be heavily celebrated with one of the very best skate sessions you will ever attend on Saturday 15th December from 12-6pm at BaySixty6 skatepark in London. The address is 65-66 Acklam Road, London, W10 5YU. Map here.

Entry is £10 on the door and £7 in advance from Slam City Skates and Stand Up Skate Shop.

The 10th Anniversary Crossfire Xmas Jam 2012 is in association with Ricta Wheels, and sponsored by DGK, Superdead Skateboards, Grizzly Griptape, HUF, Sidewalk, Slam City Skates and Stand Up Skate Shop. All involved will have various best trick comps planned on the day in the street course. The Ricta Wheels bowl jam will kick off from 4pm, so expect absolute carnage throughout the day, with many NBD’s put down at the new park. £1000 cash prizes will be handed out on the day for guest pro’s and ams.

From midday, traditional unsponsored best trick jams will see £500 worth of shop vouchers from Slam City Skates and Stand Up Skate Shop up for grabs in the street course. Yep, it’s time to raise your game. We will also host two video premiere’s on the day via the big screen that will also be announced soon.

HUF BEST TRICK COMP: Highest ollie comp over the driveway.DGK BEST TRICK COMP: Best Hubba trickSUPERDEAD BEST TRICK COMP: Best gap trick across the entranceGRIZZLY GRIPTAPE BEST TRICK COMP: Best tricks on the quad ledge

Plan ahead and arrange your travel and accommodation. Look out for an announcement soon and cut and paste this flyer and post to share with others. It means so much to roll this jam out for you. Thanks for ten years of your fantastic support.

After Party information:

The Xmas Jam will be followed by a warehouse party and the UK premiere of the much the highly anticipated DGK video ‘Parental Advisory‘ in association with I-Five Distribution.

This event will take place in the Pop Up Cinema on the same road at BaySixty6 skate park (near Portobello Rd) followed by a warehouse party in the same location from 7pm-1am.

Suicide Silence’s vocalist Mitch Lucker has died aged 28 after a motorcycle crash on Wednesday night in Huntington Beach. The Orange County coroner’s office said Lucker was hospitalized after a motorcycle accident shortly before 9PM Wednesday and was pronounced dead at 6:17AM Thursday 1st November.

Suicide Silence have posted the following status on the tragedy:

“There’s no easy way to say this. Mitch passed away earlier this morning from injuries sustained during a motorcycle accident. This is completely devastating to all of us and we offer our deepest condolences to his family. He will be forever in our hearts.

Insane skateboarding went down at Saturday’s Massacre jam at BaySixty6. This session will not be forgotten due to the amount of NBD’s that were on show during the day. It was ridiculous stuff! Here’s a recap of what went down.

The day kicked off with a rail and stair session on the lower right Bay set with Adam Moss (who should take notable props) and many others getting stuck in. As the seconds counted down to zero, it was Alex DeCunha who stole the reddies at the final honk, with a tailslide shuv and then a tailslide flip-out on the rail amongst more during the sesh.

Luke Jarvis was one of the first to discover that a frontside boneless off the wall hole was actually possible. There’s not much space between coping and the Westway, so this jam session steadily brought the new wall to the ground. Death Skateboards’ Rob Smith made sure he was the first person ever to heel block the steel and nose block the wood in legendary style. His signature classic was followed with dog pisser’s, a blunt fakie pulled in off the nose and a fastplant fakie attempt that most would have passed on. Savageness from the Dogger was unleashed.

Some of the Carve Wicked crew were present today, led by Director General Sam Pulley, whose fs smith bash to fakie attempts on the coping were the catalyst for Lee Blackwell to pull in a handplant, Ewan Bower to fully tweak a sick extended fakie rock, a fakie one-foot dogpisser. Whilst others rocked the coping and fell to the flat, Salar Kooshki took a tre flip fakie, Jake Snelling dipped his nose in off the coping, Alex DeCuhna had an airwalk fakie and Tom Steele ended the proceedings with a perfect blunt fakie right on 0.01 on the clock. Other stuff went down, names evade us. It was ‘kin ridiculous!

NBD time. Rob Smith blocks out his nose on the wall hole.

By this stage of the day, the bowl was roasting hot and an hour of intense skating followed. The new bowl, lauded by many who rode it today, was the sterling work of Croyde Mirandon and Michael Groenewegen, who had flown in from Holland to touch up the park in prepapration for today’s sesh. Sadly, they were not present at the opening jam after their hard graft on the new park, so it was an honour to have them present today.

Adam Moss brought crooks to the party early doors.

As you can imagine, the fight to get into the bowl sesh was pretty fierce – two at a time, head to head. It’s pretty amazing that we didn’t have any serious injuries considering the speed most were hucking tricks at. Heroin’s Craig Questions dropped one of the very best lines of the day with back to back tricks that had every tail smacking the frozen coping as he crawled out of the woodwork after a somersault! Amazing handwork, footwork and 80s steez work to match. Talking of steez, Sox rocked the bowl on the day, but the footage was frozen on the tape and too glitched to run. Kill City have an am on their team who has unique flair on a deck and a smile for miles when he is popping cheeky one-foots, tail blocks, alley-oop shit and fun-filled runs that have Blender appeal. Both Sox and Craig Questions’ Scott are pure entertainment on urethane and a joy to watch.

Jesus (aka Matt Dinnadge) assisted every NBD with his special powers. This fs smith was laid down for his followers.

The ‘asleep at the wheel’ skills of Dannie Carlsen graced this session today. Riding for Alis and coming in from Copenhagen, the Dane took the overall ‘Ripper of the Day’ award with some absolutely insane skateboarding. It was one of those sessions where every time he dropped in, you just wondered what else was about to drop, due to the stupendous amount of tricks in his bag! Blunt tre flips, flip fakie’s – I could go on and on. Watch the footage, it ws non-stop.

Rob Smith hand assists a blunt fakie on the all new vert wall. First one ever.

Superdead’s Dennis Lynn flew in to show us that his technical lines at mach 10 deserve some serious praise. His fs smith grinds are not to be messed with pushed everything for the longest grind. Again, sorry Denis, but the deep freeze mangled your footage!. Creature’s Carl ‘Potter’ Wilson and Witchcraft’s Mikey Joyce both threw stalefish, frontside airs, boneless moves and smith’s into the pot. Ewan Bower treated us to his incredible pop and admirational style with fakie hip action and much more, Camden upcomer Salar Kooshki was pushing his weight up amongst the big boys as were the Waterton Brothers, Keiran (age 10) and Callum (12) who both had tail cracks from the entire platform for their consummate performances. Both have no fear and can provide back d’s, smiths, handplants and airs on request. Abrook brothers revisited? Time will certainly tell.

Lovenskate’s team are made up by some killer skaters at the moment. ‘Chav Dan’ Hill took his speed demons out on the bowl. He took home some dough in the Longest Grind comp with a frontside 5050 that took the shallow end apart with over 25ft of coping destruction. This frenzied session aided by the sound of trucks gnashing included Lynn, Smith, Potter, Salar and more. Brendan Ryall is said to the be the only other person who has fs 5050’d the shallow end to date (only last week) so props to the Chav Dan for holding it down when it counted the most.

You will not find a more laid back slayer than Dannie Carlsen.

What a day. Thanks so much if you came down and big ups if you dressed up for a day of Halloween hammers. Massive thanks to Ben Larthe (photographer), Sirus F Gahan and Al Hodgson (filmers), all BaySixty6 staff, and of course, all of the guest riders from Witchcraft, Creature (UK), Lovenskate, Kill City, Heroin,Death Skateboards and Stand Up skate shop.

Zac

Potter takes a stale in the bowl.

The next skate event at the Bay will be on Saturday 15th Decemberfor the 10th Anniversary Crossfire Xmas Jam. Put that in your dairy as one not to miss and expect a huge day out for all.

Late Slipknot bassist Paul Gray‘s former doctor has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with his death in May 2010. The physician Daniel Baldi prescribed the “high-dose prescription narcotics” that killed Gray. Gray was found dead in his hotel room with an autopsy showing that the 38-year-old overdosed on morphine and fentanyl, a synthetic morphine substitute.

Reportedly Gray’s death is one of eight over which Baldi has been charged following fatal overdoses. Baldi has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His lawyer, Guy Cook made the following statement:

“It is unprecedented to turn unfortunate deaths or medical results into a crime against a doctor. Unexpected deaths can occur in severe, chronic pain patients unrelated to medical treatment. This is especially true with patients who are drug addicts or drug abusers.”

Meanwhile Slipknot have also released a statement concerning the sensitive issue:

“As the loss of our brother Paul Gray is still very fresh for us in the Slipknot family, this new development has us all in a state of anger and sadness. The fact that this person took advantage of our brother’s illness while he was in a position to help others has outraged everyone in our family.

We can only hope that justice will be served so this can never happen to anyone else ever again! Our thoughts go out to the families of the other victims. We plan to cooperate as much as we possibly can to ensure this tragedy is never repeated, and to make sure this man pays for what he has done.”

At Crossfire our thoughts are with all those concerned, in particular Slipknot and Gray’s family.

Where do you start with Rob Smith? Well, due to his stature we will skip all the boring intro stuff and get straight into the facts. All you need to know is that Rob goes balls out in life, he rarely misses a Crossfire event, he is pro for Death and his possessions are kept in Manchester.

Before you read what could well be the funniest interview we have hosted in a while, it’s worth delving into the forthcoming Death Skateboards video that is scheduled to premiere in October this year. Get ready for what is hyped to be Death’s best video production yet.

So come on then Rob, spill the beans on your new section in ‘Ordinary Madness‘. So far, the entire camp has been water tight on this one…

I’m super stoked on my new Death part. My section is finished now. It’s so hard for me to film a video part because I’m constantly away on trips so the footage I film on them are already accounted for web edits. I have my own camera with me and try to get others to film tricks but it has slowly added up over the years. We also traveled on a Death trip for a week to film for the video which helped a lot. Some things have been used on web edits but mostly alternative angles.

Mark (Nicolson) has been working really hard on everyone’s footage over the last 4 years. I have been over to his house a bunch of times to see the progression and it’s really looking like the best video yet which is hard to believe after the success of the last video (Better Than Life). I’m really stoked on the soundtrack too. This is going to be my first real full length DVD video part so I wanted it to be exactly how I wanted it. I think my section will be a totally love-it or hate-it scenario so you” have to wait and respond. Skateboarding is all about a family and friend vibe and about having a laugh, that’s kinda the theme anyway without giving it all away!

OK, let’s get this First and Worst thing going. Simple one. The first time you stepped on a skateboard?

I must have been about 5 years old, I don’t know where I had ever seen one but I had got it in my head that I wanted one. I had my Mum and Dad looking everywhere for one, eventually we found a small yellow plastic board with built in wheels. I still have it, it’s on my wall.

Worst time?

In front of my older Brother, I tried to grind an old snooker cue that my Dad fixed onto a stand for me to skate I fell onto my elbow and went to hospital. He will never drop that ever in his life. Every time I speak to him: “What you up to Rob?” I’m on a skateboarding trip in New York! “Oh still jumping over Pool cues are ya?”

First deck you broke?

The first board I remember breaking was a Flip Arto Saari Zippo Lighter board. I was pretty stoked because I felt like a real skateboarder, but I was totally bummed when I broke my next board on the same day trying the same trick! That was an Andrew Reynolds Psychedelic Afro board.

Worst deck?

I had a Blueprint one once.

First trick you made that made you realise you could be onto something?

The board snapper! I was trying a 360 over the spine to flat with no grab at Bolton Bones skate park. I tried it all day snapped 2 brand new boards, (I still have them). It got a bit of hype and people started to ask me for weeks, did you do a 360 over the spine to flat? I thought, wow, people are diggin’ my shit! Haha!

Worst trick you made that you wish you had not bothered to learn?

Pressure flips. I can do them at loads of variations. I can learn new ones easily kind of a bit pointless though unless in a Game of Skate!

First pro that you thought was ‘the shit’ when you started skating?

Kareem Campbell was my favourite before I started going down to the skate park then I got into more tranny skaters. Andy Scott and TNT too.

Did you know that Rob has a black belt in Judo Air’s? Photo by Rob Shaw at the Death ramp.

Worst pro?

I can’t really think. All my favourites have always produced. I remember a DVS demo at Bolton- we were all hyped because Kerry Getz was coming, he was having a bit of a bad time on the demo day. That was all.

First time you got into trouble at school?

It was in the first year of infant school, it was called reception for some weird reason. Do they still call it that? Anyway, my Mum was ill one day and couldn’t bring me in, so my Dad had to come home from work to take me. It was a really snowy day and we turned up about half hour late. My teacher told us to go to the other side of the school to the office to sign in because the register had left. My Dad said “are you mad? It’s fucking snowing!” and he brought me back home. I got a bollocking the day after. My Dad never took me to school again. Haha!

Worst?

There are too many to choose from. Every religious education class I’d be stood in the hallway after being chucked out for saying all these religions are a load of shit. It also happened in every I.T class because I would say “I can do all of this bullshit on the computer, it’s easy, give us something good to do instead of a fucking spread sheet!”. I was always in trouble for something.

First shit job?

I’ve never really had a shit job. I left school and started to work for my Dad as a plasterer. Full time for about 4 years, then I did a bit of skate coaching, and worked on Hollyoaks and other TV sets skating. Now I just skate full time which I’m so stoked on being able to do!

Worst plastering job?

The worst job was with my Dad in the local area. We were both up a ladder plastering a wall and then two guys broke in, one with a baseball bat, the other with an iron bar used for weight lifting! The guy with the baseball bat hit my Dad over the head and he fell of his ladders, I got hit on my legs by the guy with the iron bar and I fell off my ladder! I managed to avoid any more hits by using my ladders as a shield. My Dad got a few more hits to the head but managed to stay up dodging swings, eventually the guys left because the police were most probably on their way.

I phoned an ambulance for my Dad, his head was badly cut open and pissing blood. He got a few stitches and was all good. We went back the day after and finished the job, this time we took our own weapons! Haha!

Rob Ollies Detroit. Photo by Bertrand Trichet.

First time you realised you could hurt yourself on a skateboard?

I kind of always knew, growing up watching the bails sections on Tony Hawk’s video games and Jackass, but I first realised when I had to go into school with a plaster cast on both arms.

Worst slam?

Breaking both of my arms at the same time. Trying the 360 over the spine again to show off my new trick!

First sponsor?

Potato wheels.

Worst?

Potato Wheels hahaha! Nah, I loved the idea, but I only ever got 1 set of wheels. I had loads of t-shirts stickers and a few decks that they printed.

First time you saw a heel block?

I learnt heel block at Bolton Bones back in the day. I had seen a photo of Rogie doing one on a DIY quarter in Preston in Document mag and that got me on it originally I think.

Last time you didn’t make a heel block?

I have never, not landed a heel block!

Watch Rob’s fascination with Heel Blocks in this video montage.

First known teenage crush on a celebrity female?

Ermmm…I’ve always fancied Jennifer Aniston from a young age, I still do!

Worst? (guilty pleasure)

Lady Sovereign!

First Tattoo?

I found myself in a tattoo studio with Eddy Belvedere and our friend Paula when I was 16. Paula went first because she had others and she must have been 20 years old. Eddy waited because he had an idea in his head he wanted to get an image of. I went in clueless. The guy said “what do you want?” I said “ermmm…”Looking around the room I saw the alphabet written out with other symbols !@£$%^&? And I thought, shit, I don’t know….whilst looking at the question mark? So I said, “erm, i’ll have a question mark because I cant really think what to get!” He said “where do you want it?” I just pointed at my forearm and there it went. By the way, Eddy pussied out and didn’t get a single tat for at least the next 5 years..but I gave him his first tattoo as payback.

Worst tattoo?

Most people would say the cock tattoo down my leg, but I like that one. It’s a great way to start a party rolling. I would probably have to say the worst tattoo is the first Independent logo I ever got. It’s on my chest and it was the tattooist’s first ever tattoo. It scabbed up a lot and now it’s off-shape and raised up, plus I have another 2 independent tatts and they’re done really well.

Rob scaring the kids as usual, this time for Mark Churchill’s lens.

First band you got into?

I grew up listening to a lot of old rock music and punk. I got into Limp Bizkit and Eminem growing up, but my first big band I loved and always will is Slayer.

Worst? (guilty pleasure)

I like Justin Beiber’s music.

Jesus Rob. OK, first gnarly fight where a bone was broken?

I had my nose broken once and it was really snapped and on the other side of my face. I had a few girls screaming “oh god Rob, what the fuck, you need to go hospital now!” I said, “fuck that, i’m gonna do the guy in!” I ran back into the fight, I got a kick straight to the face, I got up and ran at the guy pushed him into a moving taxi and lay him on the bonnet and repeatedly punched him until he had had enough. As I walked away, the girls and a few of my friends were laughing, they took a photo of my nose, and the kick to the face had straightened it. Stoked! No hospital! Someone did have a before and after photo, I would pay good money to find those photo’s.

Worst fight?

Too many. Worst fight for me was getting arrested on 2 separate occasions. Worst fight for other person – some massive dude beat up my mate in a bar, the bouncers had my mate and the guy outside speaking to them, I just walked up to the guy and punched him once. He fell to the ground and was snoring. I said to the bouncer, I know I’m not allowed back in but can you just get my coat for me please?! We left the bar 5 minutes later and the bouncers were still trying to wake him up!

First time you dressed up as Lil Wayne?

At the Crossfire Halloween party last year! Nobody knew it was me – nobody!

Worst time you dressed up in anything?

I fucking love dressing up. The first time I met Zorlac from Death I was wearing an all-white suit covered in blood. Also my Nanna knitted me a pair of pants, jumper socks and hat all black and red stripes.

First time you puked?

I don’t ever puke but I did puke on last year’s Death summer tour after deep throating a banana and eating glass!

Worst time?

I drank diesel straight from the petrol station pump on a Death tour once!

Oh Rob! OK, for those who don’t know, explain Carve Wicked for the first time?

Carve Wicked is something your born into, you can’t just become a true carver, you either have it or you don’t. Origin: Newport. The paid laugh continues to spread across the whole of Europe and soon will conquer the world.

Current gang members include myself, Sam pulley, Danny Way, Jake Collins, Ryan Sheckler, Sox, Rune Glifberg, Tom Bailey, Denis Lyn, Andy Scott, Joe Gavin, Manhead, Lee Dainton, Sam Beckett and Jeff Grosso. There are some more members if you know the carve you know who they are. Carve on brothers.

Quote: “Carve Wicked is a way of life, not a blunt blade but a sharp knife” (Danny Way)

The Worst time you Carved Wicked?

Never.

This edit features the CRV WKD crew getting stuck into the DC Embassy.

I played out at NASS. Big one for my first set, but I smashed it mate!

Worst DJ set ever?

I played at the Supra Stand at the Bright Tradeshow with someone else’s tunes and on CDJ’s that I’m not used to. I’d drunk a whole bottle of rum, lots of champagne and some Jager. I don’t remember what I played but it must have been bad!

I think my first and last creation would be my room at my parents house. I’ve been creating in this room since I was born- my first drawings, my first airfix model, now I’ve created a room for creation. I have a studio set up for making music and video editing. I have my Technic’s 1210’s and my Tracktor Kontroll s4 with a 1000W P.A system. I have my tattoo “studio” and a 50” TV with surround sound. There’s lots of art on the walls, skateboards, canvas’s, photographs etc. All the stuff I have collected for the last 23 years is in my room.

Worst creation?

I pulled the head off a stuffed Lion King character, turned it round 180’, stitched it back on, painted its tail like a cock, and attached a string that runs around its cock and through its stomach and out of its back. On its back it reads, pull my string. When you do it gets a hard-on!

Detroit style Boneless. Photo by Bertrand Trichet.

First time you were kicked out of somewhere?

Religious Education Class.

Worst time?

Pfwww. I’ve been kicked out of every bar I’ve ever visited! But, I did get kicked out of Corby skate park during the UK champs. I pissed on my snapped board in the bowl, had a fight with Eddy Belvedere, then went mental at the after party- jumped off the balcony, threw some glasses, tried to fight someone, headbutted my mate and hid from the police! Then, when I turned up to skate in the final I was not allowed in. I had to sit in the car park for 8 hours in the cold.

First time you met the Death team?

I did a demo with them at Revolution Skatepark in Broadstairs in Kent! Was a rad day!

Worst time?

When I met Cates for the first time, my life went down hill from there.

First trick that you filmed for ‘Ordinary Madness’?

I never filmed anything intentionally for the video, just being at places to skate with someone with a camera or give someone my camera when I have a trick in mind, then get hold of the footage and send it to Death HQ.

Worst trick filmed?

Gap-out off a ledge, to 5-0 on another ledge on the first day of a Death trip. I broke 2 metatarsals in my foot and fractured my cuboid. Thankfully crazy Pete drove me from Sunderland all the way to my door in Manchester!

First time you gave up booze?

I gave up in March was going strong until July. I felt much better for it. I have been drinking in moderation recently but have stopped again now. I had a bit of a scare. I was on tablets for a stomach ulcer and I had to have a camera put down my throat – it was fucking horrible. I feel loads healthier and my bank account is much healthier too. I figured that having more money enables me to skate more, and I only cause trouble when I’m drunk, something bad is going to happen to me sooner or later if I carried on the way I was carrying on. It’s come at a good time, my sponsors are more supportive than ever, it’s 2012, it’s our last year! Make it a good one!

Worst time in your life that you should have given up?

I broke up with my girlfriend last year after I came back from the States. I did it because I just wanted to get fucked up and drink myself to insanity and not have to worry about who else I was hurting. After 3 months, I had a wake up call and thought what the fuck have you just thrown away?! We had a house together, we had an amazing life together and I threw it all away for booze. She moved down to London, and ever since I’ve been picking up the pieces. She decided to forgive me and things are going good. I am in London a lot now to see her and I also have the bonus of being able to skate with everyone in London. Plus, I get to go to the Death house more often to see the boys. Everything is good again. For those 3 months I was a selfish cunt, but I’ve had my time to throw everything away for booze. I should have done this a long time ago but NOW is the time to love and skate!